A Little Over 4
by Jessymoto
Summary: Mei and Yuzu have been married for almost 5 years. Here is a collection of moments within those 5 years. Will contain M chapters. Will contain angst chapters as well. Enjoy and don't be to harsh on me, it's been a while since I've written anything.
1. Proposal

Mei and Yuzu had gotten married a little over 4 years ago during the winter. The proposal happened mid fall, in which time Yuzu had just finished her training and received her license from the beauty school she had been attending. As a present Mei had decided to take her out to a fancy dinner and surprise her afterward with the big question.

The proposal itself was nothing fancy or elegant and didn't involve Mei down on one knee either. But it was sincere and Yuzu knew it. For Mei to be the one to take the action to engage upon proposing was breathtaking for the blonde, especially since she had been proposing marriage to Mei since before they graduated high school to which the dark haired girls response was always the same, "not yet."

The location of the proposal also didn't mean much. It was just a random sidewalk that they took from the restaurant they were just at, to Mei's late grandfather's house which had become their home the past 2 years living together. Mei had stopped along the way which, in turn got Yuzu to stop and turn towards her, "are you ok? why'd you stop?"

"When?"

"Huh? When? When what?" asked the blonde, confused as to why Mei seemed a little anxious.

"When do you want to get married?" she asked, moving closer to Yuzu's face and smiling at seeing the complete shock across it. "I would ask 'do you want to get married to me?' but that's a pointless question. I mean, unless you've changed your mind I'm pretty sure I know its a yes from you. And it's always been a yes from me when you've ask it was just bad timing soooo-" she looked for any sign of change of expression on Yuzu's face "you pick the date and lets do it."

Yuzu began to show tears on the side of each of her eyes with Mei wiped away with her thumbs as she held Yuzu's face gently in her hands. "Happy tears I hope?" Mei asked receiving a nod and a smile from the blonde. "Good" she responded back with a sigh of relief.

"Mei, why do you think the timing is right now?"

"Oh, I don't really" she replied in a 'matter of fact' tone while lowering her hands from Yuzu's warm face. "I'm still finishing the university and until then I don't really have any way to give you anything. Well," she paused trying to think of the right words before continuing, "well nothing new or extra at least from what you know now. And before you cut me off on that, I know you don't care about things like 'oh she provides for me' but I do. You make me the happiest person in the world, as cliché as that is to say right now."

"So why ask now then?" Yuzu questioned, really confused. "If you care so much about your financial stability" whispering 'even though your rich regardless' under her breath, "why do you want me to pick the date out now then? You're right, nothing has changed in the sense of what you can or can't 'provide for me' now as opposed to what you might be able to later, so I'm a little lost. Help me out here."

Mei looked away towards the street, gathering her thoughts as she starred at nothing in particular. "I guess its just because I want to be your wife." She turned back towards Yuzu who had the shocked expression again on her face and the smile on Mei's face returned again. "I can't explain it. I just do. Seeing you get your license today at that small ceremony, I was just overwhelmed with this feeling of wanting to shout out like 'wooo! there goes my wife!' type of thing, and I kind of caught myself. I don't know, maybe we just been living together so long now that your personality is starting to rub off on me and I'm catching cases of Yuzu moments."

Yuzu threw herself up on her toes and placed her lips on her girlfriends for a strong kiss. "I love you" she whispered after, smiling strong which just sent chills through Mei. For that moment it was only them. No traffic lights in the background. No random strangers walking around the two in the middle of the sidewalk. It was them, with a light cold breeze, surrounded with some dead leaves on the ground. And that was all that mattered in those seconds to Mei before Yuzu broke the silence.

"Come on let's go home. Your nose is getting red, and last thing you need is a cold." She wrapped her arm around Mei's arm and began walking towards the house. "Oh and don't think I didn't catch the little hint of romance you did here. Proposing on the sidewalk we used to walk to school in. Super cute hehe."

"Uh yea!" Mei said looking forward shocked, scared, surprised and expressionless all at the same time due to her not having made that connection at all. When she snapped out of it she noticed how happy Yuzu was, so who was she to ruin the fun. She unintentionally did something right, so why ruin the moment. "I knew you would piece it together."


	2. Set Date

Mei and Yuzu had gotten married a little over 4 years ago, during the winter.

It had not taken long for Yuzu to set the date for the wedding. The morning after the proposal, Mei had woken up before Yuzu, as usual, only this time instead of getting out of bed and performing the morning routine of, turning on the coffee machine and emptying the bladder, Mei sat up and then immediately laid right back down to cuddle with Yuzu.

"What's the matter?" questioned Yuzu in a relaxed and tired tone, with her eyes still shut.

"Nothing, it's just cold today," replied Mei back, resting her cheek on Yuzu's right breast that was still exposed from the activities the night before, and wrapping her arm around Yuzu's stomach. "It's making me not want to leave your side. Your soooo warm," Mei said, taking in a breath Yuzu's scent, closing her eyes, and wrapping her arm even tighter around the blonde. "I love it." She was trying her best to ignore the urge to use the bathroom, as well as the anxiety and uneasiness she felt in just laying there unproductively instead of getting ready to start the day. She was a woman of organization and routine, with nothing being more important in her lifestyle then following the schedule.

But then again, this was Yuzu. The only one that could get Mei to flip her life upside down without even knowing she was doing it. Mei took another deep breath and shook off the thought that 10 minutes had gone by and she still hadn't moved. She was enjoying the calm, peace and quiet of the Friday morning. Unfortunately it would be short lived.

Yuzu suddenly gasped loudly and abruptly shot up to a sitting position and scaring Mei who immediately thought the worst.

"What?! What's the matter?! What's wrong?!"

"Mei I got it!" Yuzu replied, patting Mei on the knee and turning to adjust herself on the bed so she sat facing opposite Mei who seemed to have a less frightened expression on now. "I want to get married when it snows."

Mei exhaled sharply and relaxed her shoulders, mumbling the words 'you scared the crap out of me' before looking back up at Yuzu. "Why snow? I mean. Why when it snows? Oh man I have to pee!" Mei shot out of bed, running out the door in her black silk nightgown and turning left, into the bathroom. She didn't bother to turn on the light or close the door and all that was heard from inside the bedroom where Yuzu was, was the sound of pee and the moan of relief that was following it by Mei.

"You're kinda killing the romance here!" Shouted Yuzu from the room, and reached down to the floor, grabbing her pajama top that she had not bothered to put back on the night before.

"Sorry!" Mei shouted back, flushing the toilet and turning on the sink, "I couldn't hold it anymore!"

"Yea uh," said Yuzu standing now right outside the bathroom in her grey pajama tank top and shorts with a hand to her hip. "You ask me to marry you last night and told me to set a date. Now I do, or am about to I should say. And! I'm about to tell you why. And you run away." Yuzu smirked at Mei who held a smile as she dried her hands and heard the rant. When she rolled her eyes Yuzu smirked and teased, "one day Ms. Aihara, I am going to stop chasing you. Wait and see. And I know your going to get all upset and then be all 'oh but Yuzuuuu I love you' and I just won't hear any of it."

Mei chuckled at Yuzu's imitation of her before remembering a past conversation Yuzu had had with Harumin on how it was impossible for Yuzu to get comfortable in bed now if Mei wasn't around. "Oh is that so? But then how will you sleep at night without me to snuggle up against you?"

"I'll manage. I'll invest in a teddy bear."

"Really, a teddy bear?" Mei questioned and hoped that the irony would catch Yuzu quickly. When Yuzu nodded, she realized that it hadn't, so she kept going. "Wouldn't a teddy bear just make you think of me though? And how horribly cold I must be because you didn't chase me and instead are there snuggling up with the plushie that could of just been me if you had only bothered to go after me in the first place?"

Yuzu was left with her mouth left open, as if trying to think of a comeback that was in the tip of her tongue but not being able to do so. She had started this tease war and now she had lost. Closing her mouth she just turned and walked away from the bathroom door towards the kitchen but was stopped just a few steps into the hallway by Mei's arm which had wrapped itself up around the blonde's waist from behind. Mei kissed her on the cheek and apologized for hurting her pride and continued to hug her from behind.

"You're going to be late if you keep this pace up," said Yuzu, enjoying the moment of affection from Mei.

"I know, but I'm still waiting for you to tell me why a snow day? I'm not moving until you do so."

"Well if that's the case I shouldn't tell you then. Unlike you, I don't rely on my morning cup of coffee and I'm not the one that has class in about an hour. So we can keep this up all day."

Mei made a groaning noise and placed her head on Yuzu's shoulder. "Mmm coffee."

Mei began the task of wobbling her way towards the kitchen whilst still holding onto Yuzu, which caused the blonde to laugh at noticing it, and turn after a few wobbles. After giving Mei a small kiss, she rested her arms on top of Mei's shoulders and said, "I want to get married on the first snow day of this year. I want it because then, every time it snows, I will be reminded of you and how I belong by your side to keep you warm."

It was then Yuzu's turn to hug Mei, except this time it wasn't from behind and neither one of them were joking around. "You're my home Mei. And soon you will be my wife. I will always be there for you because without you, I'm lost."

So on a random Thursday, towards the end of December, Mei and Yuzu stood outside a courthouse surrounded by their friends whom had all either called in sick from their jobs, or missed their classes that day so that they could be there to support the two. Ume had also attended the ceremony, though believed a more traditional wedding with an actual set date should also be done on account of Shō not being able to attend a random snow day one, and both Mei and Yuzu agreed to this as well, not to mention it would be nice to have an actual wedding with the rest of the family, and cake, and the dresses.

That wedding would take place later in the spring of the following year.


	3. A Bad Day

Mei and Yuzu had gotten married a little over 4 years ago during the winter.

One of the requirements in order for Mei to take over for her grandfather, was that she was required to have a Master's degree in Higher Education. It did not matter to the board that she had trained since early childhood for the position, what mattered is that she was qualified without having the proper paperwork. One of the biggest reasons for this rule is that so, should in under any circumstance the school have to go to court, Mei would not look like a random woman whom held a position of power in a school community setting without the proper training to do so. Something as minuet as that could cost her not only the case, but the entire academy. So it came as no surprise to either Mei nor to a Mr. Sanaka, who was a retired right hand trustee of her grandfathers, that upon his death, Mr. Aihara senior left the academy under Mr. Sanaka so that he could work as a surrogate until the time came for Mei to finish her schooling and take over.

Unfortunately for our lovely couple, this meant that Mei was stuck attending the university for 6 years, or 5 if she worked her ass off, and Yuzu would have to deal with nights where Mei was physically there but not at the same time do to studying for an exam, writing an essay, or preparing a presentation. Most of the nights Yuzu was fine with it, having been used to Mei being that way for years, and would entertain herself watching some TV which normally resulted in her falling asleep on the couch to some game show about a woman being dunked in some sort of edible liquid substance for the amusement of the greater population. However, there were the random and rare nights where Yuzu had a bad day at work and would come home needing the comfort of her wife who was busy, or worse, not home yet due to study group.

One night a couple of months into their marriage, a moment like that took place, and it would end up being one of the worst days ever for the two of them.

Yuzu had gotten home way earlier then expected and due to leaving the house in a rush, had not packed an umbrella with her. This resulted in her getting drenched in the summer downpour she had heard about on the news that was going to happen, and which did happen just as she began her walk home. _'I really need this day to end already'_ she thought, taking off her shoes and socks and sighing heavily just thinking about the events of the day so far.

"Mei?! You home?" she shouted hoping to get a response from the person she needed right now, but not shocked at all when none came. It was 1pm, Mei would be in class, and the dark haired woman never missed a class unless it was something more important to her then her future career and lifetime goal. Which 'anything wrong with Yuzu' would fall into that category for Mei, but that random piece of information always went unnoticed by the blonde. Yuzu religiously believed that she meant less to Mei then what she really did, so because of this she didn't bother to text her that she was depressed and home. She instead texted her friend Harumin, but unfortunately unlike Yuzu, Harumin was still at work and not allowed to even have a phone out until her break time. It would be hours before Harumin would see that text.

In need of a distraction, Yuzu decided that she might as well take this time to go run an errand and stock up on some groceries, since everyone she knew was busy. Even her mother would be at work at this time. So she took a shower to warm up, got redressed into more comfy clothes, and left for the bigger market that was further away from their house but where the food was more fresh. She figured she might as well since she had a lot of time to kill, and since she hadn't planned on buying much, a bus ride there and back wouldn't be that much of a bother.

On the way there her phone vibrated and Yuzu quickly opened it to read a text from Mei: _"In between class now, just wanted to say love you. Sry bout last night, I should have finished before it was that late. I'll make it up to you tonight. I'll treat you to something and then treat myself to you :wink: Or you can have dibs on top if you want, I'll behave I promise :3 Don't work to hard, I'll see you soon."_

Yuzu smiled even though her eyes contradicted her lips by instantly tearing. She began to write the words ' _I got fired'_ along with _'I'm sorry'_ and _'please don't be mad'_ but instead of hitting send, she hesitated. She didn't want to distract Mei while the woman was still in class and start a long conversation that may result in the dark haired woman getting mad. Instead she closed her phone and sighed whilst looking out the window. _Snap out of it. It's not the end of the world_ she thought, looking at the drops of rain hit the window and pavement. She was the only one on the bus right now, aside from the driver, and she was enjoying the sound of the wipers swooshing back and forth rapidly, along with the rain droplets hitting the windows. The driver had on the news through the speakers, which was going on about an event at a local village not to far from where they lived, but knew neither her nor Mei would be interested in attending.

She felt herself close her eyes in a peaceful manner, where she became completely engulfed by her present, and not stressing about the past or what was going to happen later. It was then that she suddenly felt the bus pivot, and snapping her eyes open, she seen the bus man turn the wheel rapidly. The bus jolted to the side and a massive sound of a horn overshadowed the sound of the radio. Yuzu let out a small scream as the bus fell on its left side, opposite side to Yuzu, and she went flying instantly due to her not haven't worn her seat belt, even though the multiple signs all over told her to do so. She slammed her hip on the edge of the row of seats before her shoulder landed against the metal of the bus side. Gripping onto the handle on top of seat for dear life, she avoided a more major injury that would have occurred had she had not done so, but by the end of the whole ordeal she was left covered in cuts and in massive pain. She saw white spots flashing around and she felt as though her vision was out of focus.

It would take officials hours to contact Mei, which Yuzu was hugely to blame for. On file Mrs. Yuzu Aihara was married but didn't have an emergency contact listed seeing how she was supposed to do that upon changing her maiden name, which she never did. She just thought, _'hey my name is Aihara still, so that saves me the work._ ' So then officials moved over to seek the the emergency contact info she listed by her former employer, but her job also had the wrong numbers. Yuzu never updated the emergency contact info after Mei changed her mobile number a couple of weeks back, and as secondary contact she put down her own cell phone due to at times her and Mei would swap phones when Yuzu's phone was almost dead and she had to be at work. So, the police kept calling Mrs. Aihara's secondary number too, which was Yuzu's cell phone, and it also wasn't in service do to the accident.

However in Yuzu's defense, if the courts had gotten everything right to begin with, Yuzu would had appeared on file as both her maiden name which was her father's surname and her married name which was Aihara, and they would had contacted her mother. So in the end as always, it was the legal system that messed everything up. Or at least, that is what Yuzu's defense for the whole mix up would be.

Later on, because of the whole disaster, Mei and Yuzu's parents would end up buying them a house phone as a Christmas present, with a note that would read _'use a house line as a contact info. You're welcome.'_

When Mei got home, it was dark and quiet. She had not expected Yuzu to not respond to her earlier text but seeing the empty house she believed that Yuzu was mad at her. She called Yuzu and it went straight to voice mailbox. "Of course, why would your phone not be dead" she said more to herself before she thought of calling Yuzu's job even though according from what she knew, Yuzu would had gotten off 3 hours ago. Unfortunately the girl who picked up had not known about Yuzu getting fired and responded to Mei's question as, "no I don't think Yuzu worked today, I haven't seen her. Sorry sweetie." Now Mei got worried. Where was Yuzu? When she called her mother there was no answer, which was the normal for that house as Ume rarely worked less then 12 hour shifts. So the next person Mei thought of was either Matsuri or Harumin. Luckily for her the two had been in a long term relationship so catching one meant you caught both.

"Hello Harumin? Hey it's Mei. Listen, have you or Matsuri heard from Yuzu? Her phone is dead and I haven't been able to reach her."

"No Mei, I haven't heard from her since this afternoon when she sent me a weird text."

" Afternoon text?" Mei question confusingly. Yuzu had ignored her but texted Harumin instead, so immediately Mei made the assumption that Yuzu was ignoring her, without knowing that Yuzu had sent that to Harumin way before Mei's text.

"Yea something to do with her hating people and you going to be mad at her? Not sure, she sounded upset but she got me right after lunch so I wasn't able to reply. I texted her back but got nothing. Oh! Matsuri just said she dropped by Yuzu's job earlier and that the fat perky woman there..you know the one with-"

"Yea Yuzu's boss, what about?" Mei cut her off not really caring to hear more detail and wanting the point.

"Yea her. She fired Yuzu. She apparently burned a customer with a curling iron. Ouch! Either way I wouldn't worry about it Mei. I'll keep trying to reach her, but you know Yuzu, she's probably walking around applying to other places with a dead phone."

"Yea," Mei said still worried, "well thanks anyway. You two take care."

"Same, bye bye."

Mei sat on the couch and turned on the tv, which fell on the news channel that Yuzu had watched in the mornings for the weather. ' _So she hasn't been here all day to turn on tv?'_ Mei thought, knowing that Yuzu normally watched a Korean drama when she came home at 4. The news kept talking about a bus crash, but it fell on deaf ears. At that time Mei never would had pieced together that Yuzu would be on that bus. She sat there starring without blinking, thinking about Yuzu, phoning her, and pacing back and forth. Every 5 minutes that went by, seemed like 5 hours. She kept trying to calm herself down, even though her anxiety had taken over pretty harshly.

About an hour later, Mei received a called from a number she only had saved on her phone from the days where her grandfather had fallen ill. _Hospital._

Her heart skipped beats and while she picked up the call, she was already rushing out. She didn't bother to lock the front door or call for the driver to pick her up. She just started running towards the building that was a few blocks away; the tears and small rain drizzle blurring her vision.

In her ear was the phone with the nurse, "Hello Mrs. Mei Aihara? I'm calling from City Hospital. Your wife, a Mrs. Yuzu Aihara, was involved in a city accident. The doctors will have more details and condition of patient for you once you arrive if you can please make your way here as soon as possible?"

Mei lowered the phone from her ear, and kept running while panting heavily. In her mind she kept repeating _'Yuzu'_ over and over again, as if by chanting the name was making her run faster.


	4. Recovery

Mei and Yuzu had gotten married a little over 4 years ago during the winter.

The night of the bus accident would be one of the most helpless experiences the couple would share for quite a while, and at that time the scariest. It would basically be the first hurdle the two would share as a married couple, though not the first they had shared together due to their past experiences in the moments regarding Mei leaving, the arranged marriage, and her grandfather's illness that took a toll on her mentally. Thankfully Yuzu had been there in every single one to bring her back from that dark place in her mind she found herself running to for shelter all the time. The one that turned her into that heartless monster, that ice queen. The one that everyone knew Mei to be truly as, without the capability of apathy or sympathy. Well, everyone except for Yuzu that is. The blonde would always be that light in her dark place. The hand that reached out to her inner soul and took her out into the sun, and show her the warmth of what it was like to love someone and feel loved. To Mei, Yuzu was everything that kept her alive and going. So it came as no surprise to anyone that really knew her, that the night of the bus accident was a life changing moment for the dark haired woman that would forever shatter her resolve. Unlike the other times, it was Yuzu who was in danger now, her very light. So there was no running to the dark this time to sit in fetal position in hopes that the blonde would eventually pull her out of it. This time Mei had to fend for herself, had to fight to keep Yuzu strong, and Yuzu would finally notice how much she truly meant to Mei. The reign of the ice queen would finally cease to exist.

By the time Mei got to the hospital she was pale and panting so heavily that she scared the people around her including those at the front desk. "Ai...Ai..." she would say between pants, trying to say Aihara and cursing at her lungs for not allowing her to do so.

"Oh my! Hang on a sec sweetie, I'll page for some help. Quickly some-" the nurse would say frantically, assuming that Mei was in the process of having some sort of pulmonary attack if not worse. But Mei slamming her hand onto the desk got the woman's attention again.

"AIHARA YUZU!" she screamed out the chance her lungs gave her; tears had come back instantly the moment she had said her wife's name. She calmed herself down almost immediately after shouting by noticing that she had everyone's attention for that second. "Please. Aihara. Yuzu. Sorry I'm fine. Ran here." But when the woman had not instantly told her a floor, the rage came back and Mei looked as though she was about to punch the older woman behind the desk. "WHAT FLOOR?!"

"Er. Yes, sorry. 3rd floor ma'am. Room 316."

Mei ran for the elevators and kept hitting the button as a natural reaction to make it come and open faster. _'316. 316. Room 316. Please don't let it be ICU'_ she chanted in her mind, as the doors opened and she instantly hit the number 3 on it, with someone behind her maneuvering around to hit the number 5. That same man would try to make small talk too in the elevator, obviously misreading the room. "I just had a son!" he shouted all joyous to Mei raising his arms up in cheer. Mei though would not react in the slightest to him, and basically not even acknowledge the man's existence. When the doors opened to floor 3, she ran out, leaving the man lowering his arms slowly in defeat.

Down the halls, Mei read the words ' _Emergency'_ on the top ledges along with signs that pointed to various rooms in multiple directions, like for rooms 300-315 left, 316-325 forward, and 326-340 right. Mei just kept going forward, looking for the room that was labelled '316' which would be located on the immediate left, right next to the nurse station. A bad sign as normally in an emergency floor the ICU patients were placed closer to the nurses. Though that always wasn't the case.

Mei entered the room and upon seeing Yuzu, she felt like someone just gut punched her. She immediately bent over, hugging her stomach and turned in a 360 angle facing away from the blonde to let out a sob before spinning right back and make her way to Yuzu's beside on Yuzu's left, next to a machine that was letting out a drip every 2 seconds. "Yuzu... I'm here," she said placing her hand on Yuzu's right cheek gently which was covered in small cuts along with multiple other places on her face. Yuzu slightly opened her eyes and mumbled something that was inaudible before closing her eyes again.

Yuzu didn't look as bad as many would think in a situation involving a bus accident. She had a bandage wrapped around her forehead, and left arm was in a sling. But other then those two things, and a small band aid on the left side of her jaw that indicated she had some stitches there, Yuzu just look like she was sleeping. She had gotten lucky in that sense that she had been the only one on the bus, seeing how if more bodies had been involved she probably would had been slammed harder against the contents of the bus, if not buried by a body slamming into her as well.

But to Mei, never having even seen Yuzu with a paper-cut, was devastated seeing her like this. She placed her head to Yuzu's head and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath in as well as Yuzu's scent, which was also pasted with the scent of hospital in general. "Oh babe," she repeated, noticing that Yuzu had been wincing in her sleep and letting out tiny cries, which caused Mei to grit her teeth. "I'm here, its ok. It's ok," Mei would say between her crying breaths, soothing the blonde's cries but also calming her down.

Mei would move away from Yuzu when the doctor came into the room.

"Hi there, you must be Aihara Mei?" said the Indian male doctor who looked to be around his early 40s.

Mei simply nodded, wiping her face with her hand quickly to not seem like a falling apart mess in front of the stranger.

"First of all my apologies and condolences to you. It's always terrible to hear that a loved one was involved in an accident. Your wife though Mrs. Aihara, is very lucky. She was fortunate to have been sitting where she was, and because of it her injuries weren't as serious or severe as they could have been."

Mei found it weird to be addressed as Mrs. Aihara. It was one of those moments where she had not realized that someone addressing her would be the exact same way as someone addressing her mother. It was a thought she not had until that moment for some reason. She also had a feeling of anger that was starting to mix in with her emotions as the doctor spoke. His words of _'not serious injuries'_ and _'lucky'_ were annoying her. ' _How was Yuzu lucky right now? She was in a hospital'_ she thought, as her temper rose a bit, but outside she showed no sign of it. She simply kept starring him down as he continued to speak.

"Yuzu had glass shards embedded in different parts on her, especially the back and side of her head, however they were not that deep, and she also shows no sign of having a concussion which is good. It means she didn't slam her head at all. However the severity of her injuries came from her side and shoulder. Mrs. Aihara Yuzu arrived here with a dislocated hip and shoulder. We rushed and fixed her hip, and have her in a morphine drip right now to ease some of the pain, which is why she may seem loopy in her random bursts of consciousness. I can ensure you though that she feels very little pain."

Mei's dark cold tone began emerging from her throat, "well she keeps wincing in her sleep, so your reassurance is meaningless."

"Oh?" said the doctor surprised as he looked past Mei over to Yuzu who did seem to have an uncomfortable expression. "I'll have a nurse come in now and check on the line. Since her vitals stabilized a bit they might have lowered the amount of-"

Mei cut him off at hearing the words vitals, "excuse me but, vitals? What was wrong with her vitals? And who is the 'they' that you are referring to. Are you not the doctor?"

The doctor seemed uneasy, as he addressed Mei with a simple 'yes' and 'sorry' while checking the IV morphine drip himself, before continuing to talk to Mei, this time with no eye contact and fidgeting with the machine that one could tell he knew nothing about. "Your wife's blood pressure spiked while we were repairing the hip, so we haven't been able to fix-" he said, moving about the wires of the machine that were attached to the arms of the person Mei loved most in the world. "Excuse me," he said cutting himself off and walking quickly to the door and yelling something out to the nurse. A nurse soon came into the room and continued doing what he was doing before while he turned back to Mei and finished his line.

"I'm sorry. These machines," he said in a joking manner, which Mei did not smirk to. "Anyway yes, your wife's shoulder hasn't been able to be put back into place because her blood pressure was to high. So we are hoping that once she has stabilized enough we can go and quickly do that."

"What was wrong with her blood pressure?" Mei questioned, now with a tone that was a mixture of cold and worry. "Yuzu has never had blood pressure problems before that I know of."

"Well a lot of it could have been from a drop in adrenaline and shock Mrs. Aihara at reaching the hospital room. You see, Yuzu arrived here and was fully conscious in agonizing pain. We immediately gave her something for remedy but I think it was the mixture of not only physical pain, but also fear that might have caused the random spike in her pressure. She looked confused and was trembling and wasn't really listening to any of our instructions, so we had to sedate her immediately so we could begin on the hip."

Mei felt the gut punch again. She took in a deep breath, taking a while to release it and trying her best to mask the tears that were threatening to show themselves once more at hearing that her Yuzu was so scared and in pain when she got there. She needed the doctor to stop talking before she did actually break in front of him. Lucky for her though both him and the nurse were about finished in the room.

"Well Mrs. Aihara, I will be back to check to see how she has progressed in about an hour or so. I really want to get a handle on her shoulder preferably sooner rather than later. For the moment the nurse has put in more drip since she the machine was indeed empty. You can talk to her and its OK if you want to wake her. Like I said, your wife showed no signs of head injury. I do warn you that she is on some heavy painkiller, so conversation with her will be very much one sided."

Mei bowed her head and the doctor left, closing the door behind him and finally leaving Mei alone with Yuzu in the room. Walking over to the right side of the bed, Mei grabbed the blondes hand and wrist with both her hands and just starred at Yuzu's sleeping body with sadness in her face for about minute or two before she bent over and placed her head on the hand and suddenly began sobbing. She couldn't get the image of Yuzu arriving screaming and scared out of her head, even though the doctor never mentioned that Yuzu had been screaming. It was a worst case scenario that she planted in her mind, and Mei couldn't shake off the image of Yuzu looking around for her. "I'm sorry Yuzu. I'm sorry. You needed me and I wasn't here, I'm sorry" the dark haired woman repeated as she cried into the blonde's hand.

"Mei?" Yuzu's voice came as soft as a raspy whisper, and Mei immediately shot her face up to look at her. Her voice sounded so small, confused, and innocent and Mei quickly gripped her hand in her own before moving the other to cup Yuzu's cheek.

"I'm here babe. You're not alone, I'm here." Mei said quickly, trying her best to not start up a sob while Yuzu was momentarily conscious. She wouldn't put it past the blonde to begin panic mode if she saw Mei cry. After all, Yuzu was notorious for going over the top when it came to Mei.

"I'm..." Yuzu said, opening her eyes and blinking very slowly as if adjusting to the conscious world. "I'm so late," she said turning her head towards Mei before continuing, "and I didn't even get the oranges. I'm sorry. I'm sure you still past the exam. And then we have the event in the small village near us for the kids. Doesn't matter if there were oranges or no. Right?"

Mei let out a tearful chuckle at the randomness coming out of the blonde's mouth. She had no idea what Yuzu was going on about, but so relieved just to hear her voice that she could say anything and Mei would smile. "Don't worry about it, we can have oranges the next time." Mei said, deciding to play along but the look Yuzu gave her right after said that she had failed.

"Huh?" Yuzu said looking at her completely lost, "what oranges? And why is your face swollen?" Yuzu opened her eyes more and in seeing Mei more clearly, she immediately went to cheer up Mei mode. "Oh my god, Mei no! No! I'm fine, don't cry! I can get oranges-"

She was cut off by a kiss to her lips from Mei.

"Shut up," Mei said upon breaking the kiss, her voice cracking as she began crying again. "Go back to sleep, you're not really awake."

"I am too awake," Yuzu said as she began to trail off with her eyes closing. "I love you Mei. Did you...know?"

"Yea I knew," Mei replied as she tried to relax herself, leaning away from Yuzu before she stopped at hearing the girl let in a large wince. "What's the matter?"

"Ugh it hurts," Yuzu said, now beginning to cry. "I can't...move my arm. My leg. Argh! Mei...Please..."

The dark haired woman nearly lost it when Yuzu called out for her for help. Going full instinctive protective mate mode, Mei stood up immediately and ran for the door, screaming out for a nurse for help. However, when one got there, she sighed and replied to Mei that it was normal for the girl to be crying in pain, and that Yuzu wasn't even conscious. Mei then decided it was best to step outside the room and take a breath, and call her mother as well as the others to inform them of what happened. By the time she finished with the 3rd call, Ume had already shown up and rushed into the room. Mei then decided to give her mother privacy and go grab a drink from the vending machine. She was parched from when she ran over, but her adrenaline and sheer worry had kept that uncomfortable thirst on the back burner until Yuzu calmed her down by talking a bit to her.

When Mei entered the room again, Ume was leaning over Yuzu's head, humming a tune and stroking the girl on the side of her head with her thumb. The humming stopped when Ume realized that Mei had returned. "She keeps asking for you," she said with a smile, leaning away from Yuzu and walking over to Mei who stood there at the foot of the bed. "Every time she wakes up, she wants to see you. She falls asleep immediately right after though."

"Yea" replied Mei, not taking her eyes off Yuzu's sleeping form. "Its the morphine. The doctor will probably be here soon again to check on it and maybe lower it." Mei took another sip from her drink and then looked up at the time. Nearly 2 hours had gone by since last she seen or heard from the doctor.

Ume sighed and began walking past Mei but stopped before she completely did and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. She didn't have to say anything for Mei to smirk at least. Both of them knew what the other one was feeling, and both of them were fighting the same inner battle at the moment. This was Yuzu after all.

Mei's smile reassured Ume who left the room to go call her husband, and when Mei looked back at Yuzu, she noticed the eyes fluttering open once again. "Welcome back," Mei said in a calmer voice then one she had previously spoken to Yuzu in, only this time Yuzu was a bit more centered.

"Thanks" she said as she tried to adjust herself on the bed but letting out a big cry at her movement. Mei rushed to her side on instinct but did nothing when she got there. She wasn't a nurse, and she wasn't about to move Yuzu when she didn't even know how she could without causing massive amounts of pain to her.

"Please stop Yuzu," Mei had said in a direct manner as the blonde kept fidgeting on the bed. Unfortunately it fell on deaf ears as Yuzu did everything in her power to adjust herself on the bed.

After a few more attempts and various moments of catching her breath from the pain, Yuzu finally gave up and just leaned back and closed her eyes. "Oh forget this. It's not worth the effort. And Mei don't you have class tomorrow? I don't want to hold your day back."

Mei had not said anything or responded to her question which for a while which had caught Yuzu's attention and caused the blonde to open her tired eyes again, only then to notice the expression of disgust, anger, sadness, worry, and shock, mixed in with watery eyes on her partners face. "Mei?"

"Don't you do that again," Mei said affirmatively, yet her shoulders began shaking and she glared into Yuzu's bright emerald eyes. Mei's composure had began shattering sometime after the 2nd painful grunt out of Yuzu and then it struck home when the blonde dismissed her feelings, assuming that Mei would just go home as if nothing had happened. "I'm not going anywhere Yuzu Aihara! I don't care about class! I don't care about the academy! I don't care about. Ugh. I don't know, ANYTHING! All I care about is YOU! So stop thinking I am going anywhere and QUIT MOVING AROUND! You're hurting yourself and me not being able to help you and just stand here and watch is driving me INSANE!"

Yuzu was in shock as she continued to stare at her wife who was practically panting and crying with her hands rolled up into fists at her side. But she had not been the only one to witness such a breakdown of the stone statue personality. At the door stood the old high school gang, with Matsuri holding the biggest grin on her face.

"About time her humanity cherry popped," she said as she walked in, "and it only took a bus."

She was then lightly karate chopped on the head by Harumin who too was happy about what she had heard.


End file.
